my trailer in Jordan, OntarioElsa Cade
Bill Cade and I did many things together. We had many experiences where I supported Bill in various projects. Make sure you click the CCOVI link below!
Way back when Bill was finishing his PhD, there were few job opportunities. One opening was in Pittsburgh and the other in St. Catherines, Ontario. Bill received a pretty good response from the Canadian school. He flew up and it looked like a first good opportunity with the “can always move back in another position somewhere else”. It turned out to be a great move. Bill received NSERC money every year to continue his research. He did well teaching as he had experience teaching teenagers at Memorial High School in San Antonio before graduate school. He became a full professor, got tenure and then was elected Dean of Mathematics and Science at Brock University.
However, in the first years upon arriving in Niagara, I took a summer job at Canada Agriculture in Vineland. The job was as project director of a Canada Works project giving university students summer jobs in their area of study. The previous projects hired students from Guelph the signature school for agricultural studies. As we sat in the middle of grape country in a fruit belt on par with northern California, I thought why not hire students from Brock who actually lived in Niagara? So I did. The project involved putting together a collection of insects of the Niagara vineyards. I drove my crew for two summers up and down the peninsula from Niagara On The Lake to Stoney Creek just south of Toronto. But soon those very grapes
vines were pulled and French hybrids were planted. It turns out the people like familiar names of French wines to buy, juice grapes didn’t sell. It takes a good five years to start to produce grapes to make wine. So it is a very long term investment. In that time I cared for my mother in law, saw my daughter through elementary school and then later commuted to Buffalo to teach junior high science.
In those ten years, Bill rose to being the Dean of Math and Science at Brock. It was at this very time as the grapes were beginning to produce fine wine but was still very dependent on the grape grower’s knowledge of growing grapes in a cool climate. There were champions like Paul Bosc Sr., Donald Ziraldo and John Howard to name just a few of the many people who asked Bill for a program at Brock to educate the sons and daughters of Niagara growers in growing fine grapes and making fine wine.
As Bill was developing CCOVI, the Grape and Wine Institute he needed to find donors in the various grape growing areas of Canada for support and partnerships for a source of students. That took us to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. The Osoyoos Indian Band that had a winery started was was interested in possible scholarships to attend at Brock. Tinhorn was just being built. We met various growers and their wine makers. We visited the vineyards in Summerland, BC.
The wine industry continued to develop in Canada, we attended various events during the Grape and Wine Festival. Bill stomped grapes and we hobnobbed with people who appreciated fine wine and fine dining. Niagara College had a culinary program that fit well into opportunities for students in creating food experiences that paired with these wines. During this time, Bill became vice president at Brock which made CCOVI more of a priority. That didn’t last as the new incoming president didn’t like Bill. Bill went back to his work as a zoologist and flew to Africa with Dan. Bill got head hunted and then appointed as president of the University of Lethbridge, but those are other stories for another day.
Which brings us to today now as Canadians refuse to buy American alcohol. Canadians are boycotting American products due to the tariffs imposed by Trump. Canadians are also very insulted by the comments of about Canada being a 51st state. They also are very angry about the U.S. ambassador becoming involved with the separatist movement in Alberta. In fact, the ambassador recently hosted members of the Freedom Convoy, this really angered Canadians.
So it is with some pride that I remember Bill’s impact on the Canadian wine industry at a time when it was young and needed someone who could champion it at the university level. It has been some 30 years since he started it with the help of many other people. CCOVI has thrived and grown to be a premier program in growing grapes and making wine in a cool climate. After that we had the opportunities to visit the Margaret River in Australia and the Stellenbosch/Paarl/Franschhoek regions of South Africa because of Orthopterists meetings and work with Dan Otte. We even took a big box of fine wine to drink on our survey trip to Zambia to drink in our campsite. We enjoyed California wines once we moved back to Texas.
Canada has very fine wines to drink and Canadians are happy to enjoy those instead of American wines. It’s an ELBOWS UP kinda of a thing.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/convoy-leader-tamara-lich-attends-july-4-party-at-u-s-ambassador-s-residence-in-ottawa-9.7260268
Now ripping Canada off in order to open the bridge
We’ll get straight to the point: The financial hardships that Daily Kos is facing this year are tough.
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Dining and Cooking